by Dr. Deborah Graham
These practice tips for powerful play come directly from our work with hundreds and hundreds of competitive golfers over the past several decades.
Early into our work, we could not help but noticed that there were particular things about practice that did more to "power up" a players skills for competitive play. Take a quick check to see if you need to use some of these practice tips to improve your own play.
Here are 6 of those practice tips for powering up your play....
1. Resist the old "rake and hit" approach to practice.
Set a goal for your practice. Any goal....use one of your favorite drills, working on your mental routine,
challenge yourself to hit targets or even just lock in great tempo. Once accomplished, take a break and
go on to your next goal, or leave. Often more harm than good comes from mindlessly hitting too many balls.
2. Find a style of practice that fits your personality.
Find your ideal way to practice, not someone elses. There is a balance between "drills" and "play" that defines your best style of practice...
Examples:,
If you are a creative and imaginative person you will probably get your best practice, in this order, from :
longer sessions for "games" in the practice area, strong emphasis on "play-practice" on the course and from short, focused sessions for drills and technical work and (especially if you are an extrovert)
Your lessons should emphasize demonstrations and visual illustrations.
If you are a logical and technical person you will probably get your best practice, in this order from:
longer focused sessions for drills and technical work (especially if you are an introvert) moderate sessions for "games" in the practice area moderate emphasis on "play-practice" on the course
Your lessons should emphasize more explainations and technical descriptions.
Can you guess which style best fits Bruce Leitzke?
3. Practice for the right reasons.
You might be surprised to know that many players practice for the wrong reasons. Examples include: punishment for poor play to overcome guilt they feel when they don't practice boredom, nothing else to do to quell fears of loosing ground to others players because someone else is practicing.
Find reasons for practice that are based your own desire to maintain and advance your skills. Then give yourself a goal for practice that motivates you to give your best effort. Otherwise, why bother?
4. Practice your weakness more than your strengths
Many players practice practice "backwards": they emphasize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Why? Its more fun and it makes them feel better. The result? They not improve and performance confidence can remain weak. Make working on your weaknesses the "goal" of your practice, and working on your strengths, the "reward".
5. Balance your practice with the rest of your life!
How does practice rank on your list of daily "to dos"? Some players put practice at the bottom, some players put it at the top, and some players balance put in the place where it fits in "just right" with everything else on their list.
If you neglect family, friends and fun for practice, it can eventually be just as hard on your game as is neglecting practice for family, friends and fun. Find your balance!
6. Try to separate your "technical" from your "creative" practice to make both more effective.
We call this separating your "thinker" from your "athlete. It will make your practice powerfully more effective if you will try to compartmentalize the two types of practice so that you are in effect working on either:
-your technical and mechanical skills (grip, stance, ball position, length of stroke) or
-your creative and athletic skills (touch, timing, feel)
For example, you could start your putting practice with 10 minutes for a drill for improving your stroke (technical). Then finish your putting practice with 5 minutes for using your mental routine for seeing and feeling the stroke as you will do when you play (creative). |
